Thursday, March 7, 2013

Vintage 1970s Male Bashing

Absolutely wild late '70s feminist propaganda vehicle that aired as a CBS made-for-television movie. Hot (and for some strange reason a couple of deliberately un-hot) chicks drive around the freeway in sleek, sporty cars, infuriating the last vestiges of that whole white male patriarchy attitude, which is embodied by an ominous, beat-up old Dodge van. The van proceeds to put these on-the-go, you've come a long way, baby broads in their place, running them off the road and crashing them into horrific fireballs. The intrepid female television reporter blames society for telling males via automobile commercials that they are supposed to be violent as she ruthlessly stalks the killer all by herself while the head cop on the case (a hilariously wooden Peter Graves in the kind of role he would soon mock in Airplane!) blames the victims for being too assertive on the road and thus asking for it.

The van is the substitute for the rapist's, um, raping instrument, obviously, because that is what men do and all women are victims.

Quote that sums it up, "I can do anything I want" (intrepid TV reporter to her already-wussified-way-back-in-1979 romantic pursuer George Hamilton ).

The message: Empowered women can do anything they want, and if you don't like that, you are an anti-social, homicidal lunatic.

Death Car on the Freeway (1979) 1/7

Reeks wonderfully of the '70s. Dark, dirty and sunny at the same time, 8-track players, the big, unwieldy steering wheels, speedometers that go to 160 mph, and oh! the clothing. What a bizarre decade to be a grown adult in. Utterly and completely bizarre.

Imagine this quote today: "How far can I get on a dollar and a half of gasoline?"